Hair curlers

ABSTRACT

Hair curlers commonly have a hollow cylindrical form around which the hair is rolled, and many hair curlers have bristles projecting from the form. The described hair curlers have a cylindrical wall of undulating wire convolutions knit together in succession. One described form of curler involves additional knit wire convolutions folded inside each end of the cylindrical wall. Another described form of curler has each end of the knit cylindrical wall embedded in an annulus. The ends of the knit wire are guarded against exposure in both forms. The described rollers are supple in that they can readily assume what may loosely be called a banana shape, they are well ventilated, they can be made boilable for sterilization, and they can be penetrated by pins or used with clips and other fasteners for holding hair wound on the curler.

United States Patent [191 Jennis [451 Feb. 27, 19573 HAIR CURLERS [75] Inventor: Murray Jennis, Laurelton, NY.

[73] AssigneE H. G EoJrnaHE CiiTKEErnyffiYJ.

[22] Filed: June 10, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 151,704

[52] US. Cl ..l32/39 [51] Int. Cl. ..A45d 2/02 [58] Field of Search ..l32/39, 40, 41, 42, 362

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,050,070 8/1962 Sidelman 1 32/39 3,079,933 3/1963 Solomon 3,106,213 10/1963 Clare ..132/40 3,307,562 3/1967 Corbett et al. 1 32/39 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner--Gregory E. McNeil] AttorneyPaul S. Martin [57] ABSTRACT Hair curlers commonly have a hollow cylindrical form around which the hair is rolled, and many hair curlers have bristles projecting from the form. The described hair curlers have a cylindrical wall of undulating wire convolutions knit together in succession. One

described form of curler involves additional knit wire convolutions folded inside each end of the cylindrical wall. Another described form of curler has each end of the knit cylindrical wall embedded in an annulus. The ends of the knit wire are guarded against exposure in both forms. The described rollers are supple in that they can readily assume what may loosely be called a banana shape, they are well ventilated, they can be made boilable for sterilization, and they can be penetrated by pins or used with clips and other fasteners for holding hair wound on the curler.

1 1 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures HAIR CURLERS The present invention relates to hair curlers.

The described illustrative embodiments of the invention are improvements over two known types of hair curlers.

One well known form of hair curler popular in some parts of the world involves a cylindrical wall of woven wire screen. A rectangular piece of screen is curved into a cylinder and the opposite sides of the screen are joined parallel to the axis of the cylinder. In one form, metal annular channels cover the cut ends of wire at the ends of the cylinder, and in another form, the screening has selvage edges at the ends of the cylinder. Each such unit is satisfactory in the sense of providing support for hair wound around it, it is boilable for sterilization, and hair pins can penetrate the screen to hold the hair in place on the roller. However, there is always a chance that the joined sides of the piece of screen will break free, exposing dangerous wire ends. Also, the hair curler is inflexible in the sense that the cylindrical axis cannot be curved and hence such a curler is at times uncomfortable to the wearer.

Another well known form of hair curler involves what may be called an open-mesh braid of threads or a tubular lattice of thermoplastic material supported by a wire helix. The braid tends to sag between the turns of the helix as the hair is wound around such a curler. Certain plastics used for the braid or the lattice of such a hair curler would be damaged if such curlers were sterilized in boiling water.

An object of the present invention resides in the provision of novel hair curlers that combine the important advantages of these and other hair curlers, and which have further advantages as pointed out further below.

Pursuant to the invention, various novel forms of hair curlers are detailed below and shown in the drawings. In the exemplary curlers, a tubular member of helical knit strands, especially strands of rust-resistant wire, constitute a cylinder on which the hair is wound. With strands that are stiff enough, the cylinder can be selfsupporting (unlike tubular braid) and yet, due to the knitted connection between the successive helical strands, the successive knit strands can be pushed closer together or expanded to a limit, so that (unlike rollers made of wire screen) the cylinder is supple and can assume a curved shape (loosely speaking, like a banana) to conform to the head of the wearer.

At the ends of the knit tubular member there are ends of the knit wire strand that could be harmful. In one form of novel hair curler, the ends of the knit tubular member are embedded in annular parts, concealing the strand ends. In another form of novel hair curler, the tubular member has portions of its length folded inside itself, thereby shielding the strand ends against causing harm.

Both forms of hair curler are made more effective byincorporating bristles projecting from most parts of the cylindrical wall. Both forms of hair curler may be used with any of various known retaining devices, as may be preferred, such as large-headed long straight pins that penetrate the cylinder wall, hair pins, bobby pins, clips, and so forth.

The knit convolutions forming the cylinder wall can be made of thin wire, in which case the wall could easily be squeezed flat, and then a stiff helical wire can be inserted in the knit wall to provide support at places spaced widely apart. In this construction, the wound hair does not cause the cylindrical wall to sag between directly supported places because the knit strands resist deformation and tend to maintain the cylindrical form. Nevertheless, as a comfort feature, the cylindrical wall remains supple and the cylindrical axis can flex because of the knitted coupling between the convolutions.

The nature of the invention will be more fully appreciated, including the foregoing and other novel features and advantages, from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a lateral view of an illustrative embodiment of certain aspects of the invention, portions of a knit cylinder being broken away to reveal an internal coil;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-section of an end portion of the hair curler of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are greatly enlarged alternatives of a wall portion of the hair curler in FIGS. 1 and 2, employing a single strand and a double strand, respectively;

FIG. 5 is a lateral view of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, modified to incorporate bristles, portions being broken away for clarity;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the hair curler in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a lateral view, partly in cross-section, of another hair roller embodying certain features of the invention in the embodiment of FIG. 1 and certain other features; and

FIG. 8 illustrates the hair curler of FIG. 7 in a flexed shape.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the illustrated hair roller or curler includes a cylindrical wall 10 of knit strands 12 on a helical wire coil 14. The strands are helical convolutions, but each convolution has an undulating or serpentine form so as to have a succession of oppositely directed loops. These loops are linked alternately to the adjacent convolutions. This is best shown in FIG. 3, where strand 10b has successive oppositely directed loops that are knit alternately to strands 10a and 10c. This form of knit connection between the successive convolutions is exemplary, so it should be understood that equivalents are included. A knit form contrasts notably from a woven screen, as will appear below. As one alternative, FIG. 4 illustrates the same knitting pattern using double strands in place of the single strands of FIG. 3.

The helical coil 14 has a wide pitch, but optionally at the ends (in the form shown) the pitch of the helix is reduced to no more than the thickness of the wire and there are two turns of helix 14 against each other. The tubular knit member includes a portion that forms cylindrical wall 10, forming a sleeve on coil 14, and portions 10' extending from the ends of the cylinder wall 10. Those extending knit portions 10 are folded inside the wall 10 and inside the end portions of coil 14. The convolutions forming wall 10 and the additional convolutions forming the portions 10' folded inside the cylindrical wall are knit together in succession. The ends of coil 14 are captured by the folds. Also, the end of the strand that forms the final convolution at each end of the knit tubular member is disposed well to the inside of the hair curler, and is thus shielded from causing harm such as might result if a wire end were to be exposed.

By making both the knit wire and the helical coil of rust-resistant metal, such as stainless or galvanized steel, the resulting roller is safely sterilized by boiling in water. The same is true of rollers having a cylinder wall of boilable plastics such as polypropylene, rather than wire.

Hair can be wound firmly around the roller and it is supported by cylindrical wall 10 with only slight sagging between the places where coil 14 provides direct support for the wall. The wire that forms the knit wall is resilient but firm, so that it is well suited to resist the transverse pressure by the hair. And yet the knit convolutions can be pushed closer together for flexing the cylinder into what is loosely called a banana-shape (see FIG. 8) and thus it is supple and comfortable to the wearer, in this respect differing from a rigid cylindrical roller. The stiffness of the knit wire does not interfere with the operation of folding-in the additional length 10 of the knit-wire tubular member, the knit loops acting like myriad hinges in that operation.

When hair is wound on the roller, long large-headed straight pins can be used to prevent the hair from becoming unrolled. The pins readily penetrate the knit wire wall. Hair pins and bobby pins can be used similarly. Clips and other types of fasteners that grip the cylinder wall can also be used in the usual way with the novel roller illustrated.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show the roller of FIG. 1 modified to include projecting bristles. Being a hollow cylinder, the roller of FIG. 1 is adapted to receive a bristle element 16 consisting of a central rod 18 formed of twisted wire and bristles 20 extending radially in all directions all along rod 18. (In FIG. 5, open-mesh wall 10 is shown for clarity as if it concealed parts 14 and 16, and in FIG. 6, the fold between parts 10 and 10' is shown diagrammatically.) Bristles 20 project a short distance from the knit-wire cylinder 10, nearly everywhere along and around the cylinder. Of course bristle unit 16 can be made shorter than cylinder 10, as may be desired. The resulting hair curler has all the advantages described, including immunity to damage by boiling water provided that natural bristle or an adequately heat-resistant synthetic bristle is used.

The roller in FIG. 7, like those of FIGS. 1 and 5, utilizes a cylindrical wall of knit wire 30 such as that of FIGS. 3 or 4, and it may include a bristle unit 16 (not shown). Annuli 32 receive and are secured to the knit convolutions at the ends of the cylinder. The annuli are shown channel-shaped in cross-section. Where metal is used, the walls of the channel are crimped or squeezed together after the knit-wire cylinder ends areinserted. Where plastic channels are used, the walls are heatsealed together, thus sealing-in the knit-wire cylinder ends. The annuli 32 can be formed on the end convolutions by injection molding. In each instance, the end convolutions of the knit cylinder wall are securely covered so that the wire ends are concealed. The annuli are also effective in resisting the possible flattening of the cylinder, where no internal support such as helix 14 is used. As seen in FIG. 8, the knit-wire roller 30, 32 can be flexed (as discussed in connection with FIG. 1) to assume roughly a banana shape with a curved central axis. It is thus comfortable to the wearer, and it tends to remain banana-shaped. The rollers of FIGS. 1 and 5 can also be flexed but, when the pressure causing the flexing is relieved, the resilient coil 14 tends to straighten those rollers. However, because they can flex and yield to applied pressure, they can conform to the head of the wearer and are more comfortable than rigid rollers.

Hair rollers or curlers made as described above are usually between 2% and 3 inches long, and between 1% inch and 2 inches in diameter. Stainless steel or galvanized steel wire of 0.011-inch diameter has been used successfully for making a 1-inch diameter roller, the wire being firmly resilient, yet being bendable in a knitting machine. The undulations of the knit turns can be of various sizes, but in rollers made as just described, the peak-to-peak dimension of the undulations is approximately one-fourth inch. In the case of 16-inch diameter rollers, finer wire may be used, and larger diameter rollers may be made with slightly thicker wire.

Rollers of the forms illustrated may be made of undulating helical convolutions of synthetic plastic strands, ideally those which are unaffected by boiling water used for sterilization, such as certain grades of resilient nylon and polypropylene, thicker than the described wire, so as to be comparably stiff. Lacquered steel wire can also be used.

Variations may readily be made in the described rollers by those skilled in the art and consequently the invention should be construed broadly in accordance with its true spirit and scope.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair curler including a hollow cylinder of helical convolutions of at least one strand per convolution, each said convolution having successive loops alternating in opposite directions, each helical convolution between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and means at the ends of the cylinder for obviating exposed strand ends, thereby providing a supple, freely ventilated form on which hair can be rolled and then secured by devices that grip or penetrate the cylinder wall.

2. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, wherein said strands are of rust-resistant wire.

3. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, wherein each of said convolutions includes plural wires.

4. A hair curler in accordance with claim I, wherein said means at the ends of the cylinder is in the form of additional helical convolutions extending continuously from the succession of knit convolutions that form the cylinder, the additional convolutions being disposed inside the cylinder at least at the ends thereof, the additional convolutions being knit together successively and to the respective convolutions at the ends of the cylinder.

5. A hair curler in accordance with claim 2, including a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, the whole being an all-metal roller suitable for sterilization in boiling water.

6. A hair curler in accordance with claim 2, including a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, said means at the ends of the cylinder being defined by additional knit helical convolutions extending continuously from the convolutions forming the cylinder, the additional convolutions being knit together successively and the end convolutions of the cylinder being knit to the corresponding convolutions at the ends of the additional convolutions, the additional convolutions being disposed inside the cylinder and holding captive the ends of the stiffening coil, the foregoing being an all-metal roller suitable for sterilization in boiling water.

7. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, including annuli at the ends of the cylinder at least partly containing and united to the end convolutions of the cylinder, said annuli constituting the means obviating exposure of the strand ends and said annuli stiffening the ends of between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, thereby providing a supple freely ventilated form on which hair can be rolled and then secured by devices that grip or penetrate the cylinder wall.

10. A hair curler in accordance with claim 5!, including means providing bristles projecting outward from generally all of the wall of the cylinder.

11. A hair curler including a hollow cylinder of helical convolutions of at least one strand per convolution, each said convolution having successive loops altemating in opposite directions, each helical convolution between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and a bristle element disposed within the hollow cylinder of knit convolutions and having bristles projecting outward therethrough. 

1. A hair curler including a hollow cylinder of helical convolutions of at least one strand per convolution, each said convolution having successive loops alternating in opposite directions, each helical convolution between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and means at the ends of the cylinder for obviating exposed strand ends, thereby providing a supple, freely ventilated form on which hair can be rolled and then secured by devices that grip or penetrate the cylinder wall.
 2. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, wherein said strands are of rust-resistant wire.
 3. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, wherein each of said convolutions includes plural wires.
 4. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means at the ends of the cylinder is in the form of additional helical convolutions extending continuously from the succession of knit convolutions that form the cylinder, the additional convolutions being disposed inside the cylinder at least at the ends thereof, the additional convolutions being knit together successively and to the respective convolutions at the ends of the cylinder.
 5. A hair curler in accordance with claim 2, including a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, the whole being an all-metal roller suitable for sterilization in boiling water.
 6. A hair curler in accordance with claim 2, including a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, said means at the ends of the cylinder being defined by additional knit helical convolutions extending continuously from the convolutions forming the cylinder, the additional convolutions being knit together successively and the end convolutions of the cylinder being knit to the corresponding convolutions at the ends of the additional convolutions, the additional convolutions being disposed inside the cylinder and holding captive the ends of the stiffening coil, the foregoing being an all-metal roller suitable for sterilization in boiling water.
 7. A hair curler in accordance with claim 1, including annuli at the ends of the cylinder at least partly containing and united to the end convolutions of the cylinder, said annuli constituting the means obviating exposure of the strand ends and said annuli stiffening the ends of the roller transversely.
 8. A hair curler in accordance with claim 7, including bristles extending outward from generally all of the wall of the roller.
 9. A hair curler including a hollow cylinder of helical convolutions of at least one strand per convolution, each said convolution having successive loops alternating in opposite directions, each helical convolution between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and a generally helical stiffening coil of wire in the cylinder, the wire of the coil being much stiffer than the convolutions forming the cylinder, the turns of the stiffening coil being spaced apart a distance of several of said knit helical convolutions, thereby providing a supple freely ventilated form on which hair can be rolled and then secured by devices that grip or penetrate the cylinder wall.
 10. A hair curler in accordance with claim 9, including means providing bristles projecting outward from generally all of the wall of the cylinder.
 11. A hair curler including a hollow cylinder of helical convolutions of at least one strand per convolution, each said convolution having successive loops alternating in opposite directions, each helical convolution between adjoining helical convolutions having the loops thereof knit to the adjoining convolutions, and a bristle element disposed within the hollow cylinder of knit convolutions and having bristles projecting outward therethrough. 